Need more ram, but which spec to buy?

[WhiteD3]

Hi,

I'm upgrading the boys PCs for xmas so they'll have a bit more grunt to run their games.

I need to buy more RAM and all I know is that both PCs have 1GB of DDR memory and 4 slots in total on the MBs.

Question is what speed ram to get? 400, 333 or 266 mHz?

I assume it would have to match the 1GB already installed but how do I find that out?

Cheers.

[Brisruss]

If you have the manual for the motherboard it should tell you. Failing that search the net for the manual. Failing that take the existing RAM out and match that. It should show on the RAM what speed it is.
Make sure the motherboard can take the size you buy.
Good luck
Russ

[WhiteD3]

If you have the manual for the motherboard it should tell you. Failing that search the net for the manual. Failing that take the existing RAM out and match that. It should show on the RAM what speed it is.


Needed a magnifying glass :(but found they both have 2 x 512 DDR400. I assume I can add 2 x 1Gb sticks to fill the other two slots for a total of 3Gb?

[Bushie]

A useful little utility is cpuz (google) it will identify what type of ram is in what slot. (as well as a lot of other info)


Martyn

[HangOver]

if it runs windows 98/ME dont bother with more than 512mb RAM
If its windows 2000 or XP go to 2GB, not much point in getting more than that unless you run the 64 bit edition of XP.
If you dont know what the 64bit edition is then you almost certainly have 32bit so just go for 2GB.

If its already got 2x512MB DDR400 just get either :

2x512MB DDR400 or 1x 1GB DDR400 which ever is cheaper. It practical terms it wont make that much difference.

You can go to the full 3 or 4 GB in any combination but in reality there is very little gain going from 2 to 3 or 2 to 4GB with XP

Consider getting 1x 1GBDDR400 and maybe upgrade the video card if its just for the games. All that said I think DDR ram is about $30-$40 a GB so if you max out the board it wont hurt.

[HangOver]

Needed a magnifying glass :(but found they both have 2 x 512 DDR400. I assume I can add 2 x 1Gb sticks to fill the other two slots for a total of 3Gb?



sorry I waffled a bit the quick answer is YES